Rex is an instructor at The University of Detroit Mercy. In the following essay, he explores how the issues of return and renewal in Always Coming Home work to bring a narrative cohesion to disjointed text.

It is an integral part of our culture. Home is where we feel secure, safe - where we belong. Home is also the place where we go if we are frightened, tired, or lonely because we know that there we will always find peace and love. Ursula Le Guin's novel Always Coming Home works on many levels, but the most interesting one is the theme of return or coming home. Le Guin could have named her book anything, but she chose Always Coming Home. The idea of the return to home is the central theme to all of the discordant parts of the novel. Many critics have commented on the odd...